Appeal Details

“REPLENISHED THE NEEDS OF THE DEFICIT WORLD”

The support “replenished the needs of the deficient world” – insisted the maternal grand father of the child without any kind of doubt in his mind. It was confirmed by Chinmayee, the mother of the child. In fact, like the two other siblings of the child, Satya was born and brought up in the maternal grandfather’s house. Satya’s father use to visit to his family only occasionally. Nor does he use to support the family financially. When Satya was born his father was not at home. Even he was absent at home when the child was only months old and the flood intrudes to destabilize their lives. His maternal-grandfather is a rickshaw puller by profession not able to earn regularly to fill up deficiency in the family. The economic constraint of a BPL family was reflected on the front of child care and nutrition in the family. The same becomes more acute as a result of flood. The poor house was damaged. The family has to take refuge at others roof top for 4 days and adjust with whatever they had with them. After the flood, all the micro economic activities in the village come to stand still and Satya’s grandfather was unable to make an earning for long or fulfill the additional nutritional needs of the child.

PROCESS OF SELECTION OF SATYA AS BENEFICIARY:

Keeping the gravity of the flood situation and its impact on the marooned, PECUC with the support from Save the Children initiated a flood rehabilitation program, named “Community Managed Acute Malnutrition”. Under the program MUAC tests such as SAM and MAM tests and Z-Score tests (developed by World Health Organization - WHO) were conducted village wise through a qualified, full

time doctor appointed by SC for the purpose. The doctor was supported by the project staff and the village animator. During the tests reveal Satya as a SAM child, Z-score: - 3.

INTERVENTIONS UNDERTAKEN:

Satya was supported with food basket for 3 consecutive months. The other interventions include awareness generation on child and mother nutrition, hygiene and liaison with government for strengthening linkages. Weekly House Visit for monitoring and mobilization, Fortnightly Health Check Up for tracking growth and report collected and data maintained. To get better results on awareness generation front, child friendly cultural mediums such as colorful posters and Puppet shows were organized at village level. During the home visits, the mother was guided in preparing home made cost effective, easy and nutritious baby food. Similarly, meeting with SAM and MAM mothers undertaken at the village level to aware them about different nutritious food and vegetables, kitchen gardening at home, preparation of homemade baby foods, nutritional value of different foods, nutritional and growth requirements of different age group children etc. During the time different demonstrations were and competitions were organized. Further, the health workers in general, the PRI and AWC in particular are involved in the process.

RESULTS ACHIEVED:

The 3 month intervention period had ups and downs in the life of the families residing in the coastal areas of the state. It was hot and humid, frequent cuts in electricity use to affect children and Satya fell sick from fever during the period. Thus he did not show the deserving growth standards during the project period. However, everyone in the family was happy to be benefited under the program. The grand parents and the young mother were conscious about the gravity of nutritional deficiency in the lives of their children. After three months, Satya gains show positive change. He has improved from Red Colour (SAM) to the starting point of Yellow Colour (MAM). His mother has also developed a kitchen garden at home, use to safe keep water by using clean pots, covering the pots and keeping separate utensil for drawing water from the pots. She is also aware about managing the safe drinking water during flood times. The mother is committed to working for ensuring the health of the children.